Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(50)

“Feel free to have a seat. I think it might be better just to show you what we have done in the past, so we can get a grasp for your tastes.”

Lexi plopped into a chair and stared at the massive collection of books. How many weddings had they done? How much work really went into them?

“The first things we really like to focus on with clients are the date, the color palette, the number of guests, and the venue,” she said, picking out a big three-ring binder for each thing she mentioned. “So much of our design work is captured online for your viewing at any time. I’ve handpicked some of the company’s favorites for us to glance through.”

“Okay,” Lexi said softly.

Her palms started to sweat, and she had no idea why. Her palms never sweat. When she had been in gymnastics, she had never had to use as much chalk as the other girls for that very reason.

“Now, the date—I’m sure you’ve already discussed when you would like the wedding to be. At least a year out is ideal, but a season would do.” Sherri flipped to a page with a picture of weddings in each of the four seasons.

Sherri looked at her, but Lexi turned to Ramsey. They hadn’t discussed this.

“Summer?” Lexi asked, biting down on her lip.

“Or fall,” he offered.

“Summer or fall next year then,” Sherri said. It was clear that she was glad they were making progress.

The rest of the session went in much the same fashion. Sherri pulled out everything from thousands of different color palettes, to swathes of garments, to images of large weddings and small weddings and beach weddings, to massive cakes…and the list went on.

Her opinion was asked over and over again, and Lexi frankly didn’t have an opinion on much of it. The longer she sat there, the more her hands became clammy. Then, it got worse. The back of her neck felt sticky with sweat. Her forehead beaded. She felt her throat begin to close up as if it were swollen. Her stomach twisted like she might be sick, and it took everything in her to sit through one more question about her taste on anything.

Lexi pushed her chair back abruptly and stood. “I, uh…need to use the restroom,” she said. She twirled her hair around her finger and then threaded it behind her ear.

Ramsey and Sherri looked at her with concern in their eyes as Lexi extricated herself from the stifling room and rushed down to the restroom. She thought she literally might be sick, but the farther she got away, the better she started to feel. It was like the time when she had walked with Bekah into the jewelry store in the mall. Her whole body had protested.

She splashed some water on her pale face and tried to get herself under control. It made no sense that she was this tense from looking at color palettes. She even liked Sherri. She was straightforward but determined to figure Lexi out, even when she gave Sherri practically nothing to work with. But how would Lexi be able to get through this process if sitting in a wedding planner’s office made her nauseated?

She rested her head in her hands and held back the tears. She felt ridiculous and wished she could make it all go away. Why did she have to make this all so difficult? Chyna had been so enthused. All of this would be better with her best friend here to hold her hand and walk her through her anxiety. Every time she looked at Ramsey when she felt like this just made it worse, like she was letting him down.

Taking a deep breath, she straightened out her hair and walked back down to the room. Sherri and Ramsey were chatting calmly as if Lexi hadn’t just stormed out. He was always so collected with other people. They had their moments, but country club born and bred made him eternally polite. He never said the wrong thing. Sometimes, he would go on and on and on while he was getting his thoughts together or when she threw him off guard, but still…he always said just the right thing.

She swallowed her pride, knowing that she would continue to say the wrong thing on a pretty regular occasion, and stepped into the conference room. “Thanks for waiting for me.”

“Of course, dear,” Sherri said, leaning her hip against the table. “We were just discussing costs and such. Nothing for you to worry about.”

Costs. Nothing for her to worry about. That was for Ramsey to deal with.

“I think we’ll take a few days to think about it, Sherri,” Ramsey said. He walked over to Lexi and put his arm around her shoulder.

“Of course. Half will be due when you decide, and I’ll need a date to make sure I don’t already have something booked,” she said with that same toothy smile.

“Thank you so much for your help,” Ramsey said.

“It was wonderful to see you again, Ramsey, and to meet you, Lexi.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” she said.

Ramsey steered her out of the office, down the hall, and out of the boutique.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Sherri talking to Eve and laughing. Lexi wondered if they were talking about her…if they were wondering how long Lexi and Ramsey were going to last after Lexi’s freak-out. She didn’t want to think about that. It wasn’t healthy for her already fragile psyche.

Lexi remained silent on the drive back to their condo. She felt pretty foolish. She had been so worried about looking and acting the part that she had completely lost it. She knew that wedding planning wasn’t always easy, but they hadn’t even picked out a wedding date yet. The only things that she really knew were that Ramsey was the groom and Chyna was going to be her maid of honor. Lexi was going to need to get her stuff together if they wanted the wedding to be a reality.